Purpose-> God Is: What God Is Not

God is not a meerkat. Now, though most would think such a commonsense statement deserves little attention, let's not be so presumptuous. For some not only think God created the meerkat, or that a meerkat is a god, but that all is god, including meerkats. There are so many conceptions of God, though reasonably much fewer concerning meerkats; but all these conceptions are so different in crucial respects, it simply cannot be so that all are correct.

Similarly, such claims of 'God the meerkat' are far less farfetched to the worshiper of created things. Such a one might tell me, "No, you have got it all wrong. God is a Sun- or Moon, or some zodiac constellation." I'd respond as such, "I joke my friend. For God is none of those things!"

What I am doing here is presenting the Christian conception of God, and it's deep-rooted contrasts with other belief systems.

Any worshiper of created things, what I'll call a pagan, has fallen far from the Christian marker. By created things I mean things thought to be created by God and things certainly created by humans. I mean the physical universe just as much as I mean Zeus, or countless other gods of ancient mythology. It seems strange that the air around me or the voiceless star beyond would rule me. But I could believe in something that is both around me and beyond. For nothing pagan is like this. Mythology is purely of things beyond, and creation-worship is purely of things around. Who could you call on when the god of agriculture wanted your son for breakfast? Some people even gave into those demands, though who made them is unclear. What is clear is that it was not God. It is not God who sends out solar flares from 93 million miles away nor who pulls in the tides. Christ's words reiterate this: "The Lord your God is one Lord." And equally powerful, "God is spirit."

And to just swiftly make the assertion and keep on walking, God is not dead. He is not dead in the ontological sense (meaning He actually died, and was previously alive), nor in the evolutionary sense (namely that the evolution of man has discovered that God is incompatible with reality). A wise psalmist, calling God the living, even sought an appointment with Him, saying, "My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go meet with Him?" All that we know about ourselves and the world, all the most common questions that men's minds tremble to answer, are answered when we meet God.

Deep in the herculean heart of Asia are witnesses to different things, all of which I only discuss for the sake of their differences with Christianity, not with each other. However, to be a Hindu is often to not be a Buddhist or Jain. For Hinduism has so many concepts of God. Christians certainly disagree on certain details, but to denounce a universally believed doctrine would certainly cause you to denounce Christianity as a whole. Some Hindus believe that all is God, others that there is no God. No such distinction can be made in Christianity while retaining the label; if you believe that God doesn't exist, you cannot be a Christian. To conclude, any conception of God that allows the possibility of His nonexistence is at odds with the Christian conception of God.

Buddhists are essentially in the group called 'God Is Dead.' Buddha saw all questions concerning God or creation as worthless. Therefore, since Christians do not believe such questions are worthless, but because God exists, are of ultimate worth, these two world views are incompatible. Jainism as well denies a divine creator.

I must point out here that my purpose here is not firstly apologetic, meaning I'm not here t make a case for Christianity, but to discover the purposes of God's most important choices.